The cost of borrowing remains unchanged after the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee held its interest rate at the historic low of 0.5 per cent.

The Bank's base rate fell to a 316-year low on March 5 and has been maintained at that level ever since

The Committee also voted to continue with its programme of pumping money into the economy by buying up financial assets - so-called quantitative easing - which is on course to reach £200 billion.

It expects the existing QE programme to take another month to complete and that the scale of the scheme would be kept under review.

The Bank started its QE scheme in March, financing it by the issue of central bank reserves - effectively printing money. It was increased by £25 billion to a total of £200 billion in November. So far, the bank has bought assets worth £193bn.